The series started with Toshimichi Suzuki's intention to remake the 1982 film Techno Police 21C. Suzuki explained in a 1993 Animerica interview the meaning behind the cryptic title: 'We originally named the series 'bubblegum' to reflect a world in crisis, like a chewing-gum bubble that's about to burst.' Production The humanoid robots known as 'boomers' in the series were inspired by several movies, including Replicants from the aforementioned Blade Runner, the titular cyborgs of the Terminator film franchise, and the Beast from the film Krull. The opening sequence of episode 1 is even modeled on that of the latter film. The setting displays strong influences from the movies Blade Runner and Streets of Fire.

One of the series' themes is the inability of the department to deal with threats due to political infighting, red tape, and an insufficient budget. The AD Police (Advanced Police) are tasked to deal with Boomer-related crimes.

While Boomers are intended to serve mankind, they become deadly instruments in the hands of ruthless individuals. Its main product are boomers-artificial cybernetic life forms that are usually in the form of humans, with most of their bodies being machine also known as 'cyberoids'. The main adversary is Genom, a megacorporation with immense power and global influence. During the first episode, disparities in wealth are shown to be more pronounced than in previous periods in post-war Japan. The series begins in late 2032, seven years after the Second Great Kanto earthquake has split Tokyo geographically and culturally in two. See also: List of Bubblegum Crisis characters

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